Rockshox RS-1, 1989

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Greg Herbold, an early adopter of mountain-bike suspension forks, initially faced scorn. "Does that thing work? Well, it better work pretty good if you're gonna haul it up that mountain," mountain-bike legend Ned Overend said at the start of a 1989 cross-country race. Herbold was twice vindicated: First when he won a national downhill title on the RS-1 later that year, then later spotting the fork on Overend's bike. Paul Turner and Steve Simon built the fork, founding RockShox in January 1989. Cyclists remained skeptical until 1990, when Overend and Herbold both rode RS-1s to respective XC and downhill world titles. From that point on, there was no questioning the technology. The RS-1 had modern features such as an air spring and oil damping. Rear suspension soon followed, and mountain-bike design has continued to evolve around this groundbreaking technology.